VMware has started to talk about a new portal it's working on that will give customers and channel partners a central online location for managing product licence keys, support requests, downloads and other aspects of their relationship with the company.

The portal, dubbed My VMware, is currently in development and slated for launch in the first half of the year. It will integrate functions that are currently scattered across several different portals. It's still unclear how this initiative will be rolled out in the Middle East region.

According to a VMware FAQ, the portal is also designed for managing product evaluations and orders, and for requesting renewal quotes for support contracts.

One of the biggest changes will be that support contracts will be 'owned' by the organisation as opposed to the person who places the order. "You'll be able to decide who will have access to licence keys, and what they can do with those keys. You'll be able to delegate who can file a support request, and see what support level you have on what products," VMware stated in a video outlining the new portal's features.

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VMware channel partners are expecting to hear more details on My VMware next month at the company's Partner Exchange conference in Las Vegas. In the meantime, they're champing at the bit to find out more about how VMware plans to tackle time consuming processes that have long been a source of headaches.

From a purely technical aspect most partners say it's not that big of a deal. However, partners are hoping it will be a huge deal when it comes to overall licence management as this will give them better visibility and management into VMware customers.

VMware channel partners can expect My VMware to help them smooth out licensing logistics as one of the portal's main benefits to them, the vendor said. According to the company, channel partners will no longer have to act as unpaid intermediaries between their customers and VMware.

The virtualisation solutions vendor also stated that this will help streamline things for partners as they can expect customers to allow them to log in remotely and use this tool to get more accurate licensing information, leading to more accurate renewals for maintenance and having a more structured way of up-selling.